Guys, We Have A SERIOUS Problem

[TTCUSM]

Please read this article.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast� TTCUSM,

I see this article is from 2002. Can you help me undertand what 'we' can do about this. What are your expectations? What are the implications?

Once the media gets hold of an idea, there is no telling where it will end up.

I look forward to seeing your ideas and comments.

praṇām

[TTCUSM]

Thiru Yajvan,

First, we might want to inform any Hindus who we know that this is going on.
That way, they won't receive a nasty surprise from their friends or co-workers.

Then, we'll have to watch out for an anti-Hindu backlash in countries where Hindus are minorities.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam TTCUSM: Since it was 2002, it is highly unlikely Time would consider letters to the editor of re same, but I would imagine they got a few. I tried to search for Time archives, but was unable to find anything to further the discussion. Seems like a fairly insensitive poorly researched document for Time. But now that specific incident is water under the bridge. I believe because of the letter writing campaigns, and direct protest by any Hindu leaders, we have now a somewhat better educated American public on Hinduism. Certainly this provides us with a reminder to be constantly vigilant regarding inaccurate portrayal in the press.

Aum Namasivaya

[TTCUSM]

Vannakkam TTCUSM: Since it was 2002, it is highly unlikely Time would consider letters to the editor of re same, but I would imagine they got a few. I tried to search for Time archives, but was unable to find anything to further the discussion. Seems like a fairly insensitive poorly researched document for Time. But now that specific incident is water under the bridge. I believe because of the letter writing campaigns, and direct protest by any Hindu leaders, we have now a somewhat better educated American public on Hinduism. Certainly this provides us with a reminder to be constantly vigilant regarding inaccurate portrayal in the press.

Aum Namasivaya

Thiru Eastern Mind,

Here's an article from the Guardian about similar problems in Uttar Pradesh.

[TatTvamAsi]

Please read this article.

hmm.. another article by TIME denigrating Hindus? How surprising!

christians trying to portray India/Hinduism in a bad light is futile.

[TTCUSM]

hmm.. another article by TIME denigrating Hindus? How surprising!

christians trying to portray India/Hinduism in a bad light is futile.

Thiru TatTvamAsi,

Do you think these media reports are false?

[TTCUSM]

There's an error in the Time article by Alex Perry Atapur.
On page 547 of A Survey of Hinduism, Klaus Klostermaier writes that the sacrifices were carried out at the Kali temple in Tanjore, instead of the one in Calcutta.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam TTCUSM:

I am not quite sure what you see as the serious problem. Is it the events that are reported themselves, or the western press's tendency to seek the negative?

Firstly, let's understand that the large press is a business. (There may be some exceptions in small independent presses who run on donations.) Magazines and newspapers are in the business of selling news, not telling news. It is just another capitalist venture. The term media mogul is accurate. The goal is to develop readership, and therefore be able to command high advertising rates. 80 to 90 % of all the revenue in magazines comes from advertisers, not from subscribers.

So the agenda is to write what sells, AND not to lose advertising revenue. Each of the large advertisers hold the threat of "We will pull our advertising" over the heads of the media. The CEO of a company holds a million times more power than any one single reader.

We don't even know the agenda of editorial staff, but it can be tied to a religion, or to a political or dare we say racist view.

So in this case despite there being 6 vicious rapes in Las Vegas, total mishandling of government funds, lobbyists making huge donations, illegal smuggling of humans across the Mexican border, inside America drug wars, pedophile priests within Catholicism and fundamentalists, or the absurdly quick growth in homelessness due to the 'economic downturn', the American Press chose to 'report' a negative incident from India instead. Perhaps it was fiction. You did find one error, and there could easily be more. We will never know.

Why? It's because Americans don't want to read about their own negative stuff. What they want is feel good and the occasional international horror story thrown in just to add a bit of spice to the magazine. The advertisers just want more readers, and the American way of life portrayed as the BEST in the world.

At the same time many other international disasters on a far greater scale are ignored. Many civil wars in Africa, droughts, AIDS, disease outbreaks, third world pollution, genocides, and the list continues. Why? The average person here doesn't care, or finds it depressing.

Here in Canada on one of out National evening news networks the first fifteen minutes, an entire half of the whole broadcast, was spent on the proposal of a British Royal , heir to the throne, to his girlfriend. This in itself is a great indicator of how low mainstream press has gone.

For real verification of such stories, I would far rather listen to reports of such groups as Amnesty International, perhaps even the International Red Cross.

So how does that leave Joe Reader of said press. He has two choices. One is to accept it verbatim. The other is to read between the lines and ask, "Is this story even true?" "Where did this information come from?" "What biases did the writer hold?" Why did the magazine print this particular story?" "Are there other viewpoints written of the same story?" etc

Personally, I choose option number two.

Aum Namasivaya

[TatTvamAsi]

Thiru TatTvamAsi,

Do you think these media reports are false?

False? I'm not sure. Grossly exaggerated? Definitely.

Aghoris eat corpses and drink their own urine. Do we need an article on that on the front page of New York Times saying this is "Hinduism"? The funny thing is, it is true, but it is not central to Hindu Dharma that is being practiced today. The paths that are mostly practiced are Nivritti in nature so pee-drinking is not in vogue; at least, to most people.